Iran said it will halt voluntarily production of 20 percent enriched uranium by noon on Monday, as the nuclear deal reached between Tehran and the world powers comes today into effect.

Iran said it will halt voluntarily production of 20 percent enriched uranium by noon on Monday, as the nuclear deal reached between Tehran and the world powers comes today into effect.

The announcement was made by nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi, who said:“Voluntarily halting the production of 20 percent uranium enrichment is the major measure that we are undertaking on Monday by noon.”

"Two cascades (used to enrich uranium) in Natanz and four cascades in Fordo will be disconnected by noon which means the production of 20 percent is practically stopped," Salehi added.

Inspectors from the UN nuclear watchdog arrived in Tehran on Saturday to oversee implementation of the deal that puts temporary curbs on Iran's nuclear program.

The team is tasked with reporting back to the Vienna-based agency on steps Tehran must take under the deal agreed in November and finalized last week between Iran and the P5+1 group of world powers.

The Islamic Republic is also to begin to neutralize its stockpile of uranium purified to 20 percent.

"We have enough stockpile of 20 percent uranium enrichment for the next four or five years, therefore there is no need to do that," Salehi added.
In return, Iran will be granted some relief from Western sanctions and access to nearly $4.2 billion of frozen assets in eight installments.